


Fangs For Coming

by andthatisterrible



Series: Shoot Vampire AU [4]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/F, Vampires, and also more vampires show up, i'd apologize for the punny title but i honestly am not even slightly sorry, more sexy vampire times, porn with slight plot, vampire!shaw/human!root
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:40:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21870937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andthatisterrible/pseuds/andthatisterrible
Summary: Shaw is just trying to have her vampire mid-unlife crisis in peace while she waits for Root to get back from her latest job when a vampiric face from the past shows up on her doorstep. Why is this unwanted visitor here and what does it have to do with Root?Some plot, some porn, some puns.
Relationships: Root/Sameen Shaw
Series: Shoot Vampire AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562674
Comments: 30
Kudos: 166





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> cw (includes both chapters): shoot-typical rough sex, sexy vampire biting stuff, strap-ons, butt stuff, spanking, burning/branding (of the sexy and not-permanent-because-shaw-is-a-vampire variety), handcuffs

There were four hours left before Root had to wake up and leave to catch a plane, and Shaw spent the first one watching her sleep. She wasn't gazing fondly at Root or anything nauseating like that, but instead trying to figure out why she was so damn frustrated.

It was at least fifty percent sexual frustration, she knew--Root had only stayed two nights this time and it had been over a month since her last visit. Shaw had gotten used to having lots of incredible sex on a regular basis and she had _not_ enjoyed her time alone in that regard. It was nice to have her space back to herself, yes, though with a giant castle it was possible for them to both have some space and still be able to fuck regularly. How was she supposed to fuck Root when she was on the other side of the world? It was unfair.

It wasn't only sexual frustration, though. Root running off on her missions all over the world and that emergency trip to New York a few months back had vividly reminded Shaw about the rest of the outside world in ways that television and internet had failed to. She was bored as fuck and now she knew it. What she didn't know was what to do about it yet.

Root was sprawled across the bed on her stomach, naked on top of the sheets. She'd barely moved an inch from where she'd passed out earlier in the night after Shaw had finally let her go to bed. One of her arms was flung out across the bed next to her, twisted so her wrist faced the ceiling. There was only one bite mark on her wrist, less than there had been in the past, but there were more spread out elsewhere to make up for it: one on the inside of her elbow, four on the left side of her neck, another on her right breast, two deep scratches over her left hip bone where Shaw hadn't bitten her so much as dragged her teeth a little too aggressively (Root had been into it), and five total between the insides of her thighs.

Shaw ran her eyes over the ones she could see, storing the sight away for later when she'd be alone again. Maybe she should just teleport ahead of wherever Root was going this time and kill her target for her so they could continue fucking uninterrupted. There were...reasons she didn't go globetrotting much anymore. What she'd told Root about taking a break from the world had definitely been true, but there were other complications out there she was trying to avoid. But god was it tempting to tag along after Root on one of her missions, even if only to make sure Root didn't get herself tortured again.

Root stirred a little and rolled over onto her back. She didn't wake up, but this new position gave Shaw a killer view of some of the other bite marks that had been hidden, and also more naked Root to enjoy in general. She knew Root had to wake up early, but the temptation was great regardless.

Root's head lolled to one side, stretching her neck out and giving Shaw a teasing glimpse of those bite marks between her shiny locks of hair and Shaw came to the firm conclusion that Root would be able to make up for her lost sleep on the plane tomorrow.

She must have really worn Root out earlier, because Root didn't wake up until her whole body was writhing from Shaw's enthusiastic use of her tongue between her legs.

"Sameen? What, oh, what time is it?"

Shaw slid two fingers into her and crooked them and Root came with a sigh, her fingers clenching in Shaw's hair. Shaw gave her a minute to recover before she started back in on her again. If they only had a limited amount of time here, she was going to make good use of it. Maybe if she got Root off enough times she'd be too fucked out to leave.

"I'm going to be exhausted tomorrow," Root murmured. Her fingers stroked softly through Shaw's hair.

Shaw pulled back for a second. "You want me to stop?"

"Don't you dare."

Shaw smirked.

While Root was recovering from her second orgasm, Shaw crawled up her body and lowered herself over her face. Root might have been a little out of it still but she caught on quickly enough and reached up to grab Shaw's hips and dig her nails in. Shaw's fingers tightened on the headboard and the wood creaked ominously under her fingers. She sucked in a breath through her nose and made herself loosen her grip slightly. She really didn't want to buy yet another headboard, though right now she thought it might be worth it.

Root's mouth was hot and wet against her, and the little satisfied noises she made hit Shaw just right. She tangled a hand in Root's hair and rode her face as hard as she dared until she felt that familiar pulse of heat spreading through her. She grunted and pulled Root's face tighter against herself as she came.

After, she sprawled out next to Root on the bed, sweaty but still not satisfied.

"What's wrong?" Even after all that Root didn't sound fully awake.

"I'm bored."

Root laughed. "Should I be insulted?"

"No, I meant I'm going to be bored tomorrow. And maybe I'm bored in general."

Root had a tendency to say things that aggravated the fuck out of Shaw--so annoying and so pleased with herself--but she also seemed to know when not to. It was one of the reasons Shaw had let her stay around this long.

She must have gotten that this wasn't the time for a joke because she rolled over on her side and propped herself up on one elbow next to Shaw. "What're you planning to do about that?"

"Dunno." Maybe she needed a vacation from her vacation.

"You could tag along on my job, if you wanted. I can't promise it will be exciting, but it'd be a change." She ran a finger across Shaw's abs idly. "And there would be other benefits, for both of us."

"Where are you headed this time?"

"England and then France." Root traced one of her hip bones. "You could fuck me on the altar of Notre Dame, Shaw. Think how blasphemous that would be." She grinned and dragged her nails across Shaw's stomach. "What do you say, Shaw, wanna take me in church?"

Shaw chuckled. That _did_ sound fun, but…. "Maybe another time." She needed to think about things a little longer.

"Well, in that case--" Root winked at her, or tried to anyway. "--wanna take me right here?"

Shaw rolled her eyes. God, Root was such a dork. "You don't want to go back to sleep?"

"I think you successfully ruined my chances for that for the night." Root tugged on her arm. "Just nothing that'll make it hard for me to sit on the plane."

In the end, they both got too impatient while looking through the drawer of sex toys to make it back to bed and Shaw ended up lifting Root onto the dresser and fucking her with a strap-on until the whole dresser banged into the wall. Root moaned and writhed against her and Shaw left bruises on her hips with her fingers and maybe, for just one second, considered changing her mind and going with Root.

"Oh god, Sameen, fuck me!"

"What the hell do you think I'm doing?"

"A great job."

Shaw smacked her on the butt once for that, but only very lightly. If Root had a sore ass on the plane tomorrow she'd never hear the end of it.

She looked down between them, at where the strap-on, glistening with lube and arousal, slipped in and out of Root with the movements of their hips. She could catch glimpses of the bite marks on Root's thighs and god did she ever want to leave another one there, preferably when Root's legs were all wet and sticky like they were now. Blood and Root's taste mixing in her mouth? Fuck. The thought of it made her mouth water.

Root collapsed against her when she came so Shaw tossed her on the bed to recover. She ditched the strap-on and crawled on top of Root, straddling one of her thighs so she could ride it.

Root's leg was wet under her within seconds and Root was gazing up at her with that heavy-lidded look on her face that _did_ things to Shaw. It was unfair how much of an effect having someone just look at her could have and god she really hoped Root didn't realize that.

Shaw threw her head back and ground down on Root's thigh. She was so fucking close. Root rallied enough to snake a hand down and rub Shaw's clit and then Shaw was coming hard and leaving Root's leg all wet and sticky.

She collapsed across Root in a sweaty heap and let Root play with her hair and stroke her back. They'd earned a short break, she figured, but she planned to make Root come at least twice more tonight. Was there time to tie her up still? It would be hard for Root to get on a plane if she was tied to the bed with Shaw banging her brains out. Or how about--

"Come to England with me," Root said, interrupting her train of thought. Her fingers scratched gently on the back of Shaw's neck. "It could be fun."

"Not this time." And especially not England. Maybe she should give Root another scarf and a pointed reminder to wear it.

"Well, then--" Root tugged on her hair. "--wanna give me something to remember you by while I'm gone?"

It took Shaw a second to realize what she meant. "Seriously? You already look like a damn pincushion."

"Shaw."

She could hear the pout in Root's voice. She propped herself up on her forearms so she could look down at Root.

"You really enjoy it that much?"

"What can I say, sweetie? I'm just really into you, and--" Root grinned, eyes dancing with mischief. "--I like it when you're really _in_ to me, too."

"Just for that I should refuse." But she brushed the hair back from Root's neck anyway. Four bite marks there already. She was running out of room. "Wrist maybe?"

Root acquiesced easily and offered up her arm to Shaw. "Make it a good one. I want it to still be there when I get back."

The wrist might not be the sexiest place to bite someone, but it had the advantage that Shaw could watch Root's eyes glaze over as her fangs sank into her. It was just a normal bite, teeth piercing skin and no aphrodisiac toxins involved, but you'd never know that from the way Root looked.

Shaw sucked hard on her wrist, harder than she might have otherwise. If Root wanted a mark to last for days then Shaw would do her damn best to give her one.

"Maybe I should cancel my trip," Root murmured. Shaw smirked around her mouthful of Root's wrist and then carefully released her.

"Just kill them quickly."

Root's eyelids were starting to droop again and she smiled sleepily up at Shaw. "I'll be back before you know it."

* * *

It took about an hour after Root's departure for Shaw to start feeling bored again, but she settled back into her normal routine over the next day or two. She tried to find new ways to amuse herself--bench-pressing with only one arm, finally putting a carpet and a nicer chair up in the tower (she still didn't go up there often, but Root liked sitting up there on her laptop), scaling the castle walls with her bare hands. She even thought seriously about doing what Root kept suggesting and getting herself a dog. She couldn't quite commit to it (there were too many breeds to choose from for starters), but she did spend an hour looking at dog collars and beds online.

One evening, after she'd finally gotten back to the book she'd been reading, she heard the distant sound of a car turning up the road to her castle. She dropped the book on the floor and headed for the stairs, grabbing a large, ornate, double-headed battleaxe off the wall as she went (and with it came the fleeting thought that maybe it would be fun to teach Root how to use an axe or a sword one day. Why the hell was she thinking about that now?). No one was due to drop by tonight, and Root only drove stolen motorcycles, so this was an unwelcome guest. Hopefully the type of unwelcome guest that was here to cause her trouble so she could finally have a little fun.

The room on the third floor that overlooked the front steps had a large window with heavy curtains that was perfect for spying on visitors. Shaw didn't recognize the black suv that parked by her front walk, but she definitely recognized the person who got out of it.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered. Maybe it was a good thing Root wasn't here right now.

The vampire (because the large man who'd gotten out of the car was very much a vampire) carefully made his way up to her front door, almost tiptoeing along as if he expected traps to be everywhere. Smart of him, though she'd taken most of those out due to the fact kids sometimes snuck here on dares. Last thing she needed was to have to explain to some crying mother how little Bobby had gotten shish kebabed to a tree by a crossbow bolt because he was trespassing.

The vampire made no effort to hide his approach, which was odd. If this was an attack she would have expected at least an attempt at subtlety. Her confusion increased when he rang the doorbell. What the fuck was he playing at?

Well, whatever it was couldn't be anything good for her, so she might as well deal with him now while she still had the element of surprise. She pushed the window open and crouched on the sill, axe in hand. She measured the distance between her and her target and then leaped down, axe held over her head for a downwards swing.

The vampire must have heard her though, because he jumped back at the last minute and Shaw's axe took a chunk out of her front steps instead. She straightened up from her crouch, swung the axe around in a full circle, and smacked the man with the flat side of it. He went flying backwards across her yard, skidded through an overgrown garden patch, and slammed into the wall around her yard hard enough that the stone cracked.

She was across the yard and readying the axe again when he raised both his hands in the air.

"Shaw, wait!"

"Why?"

"We have your human."

Shaw's eyes narrowed. "I don't keep humans pets like you lot. You know that, Hersh."

Hersh didn't try to stand up or lower his hands. "Well, she's covered in bite marks and smells like you, so whatever she is we figured you'd want to know we found her."

Shaw lowered the axe. "What do you mean 'found her'?"

"She was wandering around our territory sporting half a dozen bite marks out in the open. Some of the guys thought she might be a spy, or bait, and decided to bring her in."

She'd _told_ Root to keep her bite marks covered up, but Root tended to ignore suggestions like that. "How'd that work out for them?"

Hersh's expression soured. "Phillip might recover from how badly he was burned, but it's not a sure thing yet. She stabbed Devon with a silver knife, but only in the shoulder. The rest all had superficial injuries."

Shaw felt a small burst of pride. "They'd better not have hurt her." Also how had Root learned about the silver thing? Shaw didn't remember having told her that.

"So she _is_ yours then?"

Shaw grimaced. Root wasn't hers the way Hersh meant, not even a little. She didn't consider people to be property the way the other vampires did, but she was playing by their rules at the moment and that meant that they would be hesitant to hurt a human that belonged to another vampire. If Root wasn't hers then she was fair game.

"Yeah, she's mine. She wasn't there as a spy or anything though. She's just an asshole."

"Sounds like your type."

Shaw hefted the axe in a threatening manner and Hersh raised his hands again. "Can we talk inside maybe?"

"No. What do you want? I told you she's mine, so let her go and let's go back to not ever interacting again."

"We can't just let her go. You need to come and get her. And Control wants a word with you." Hersh looked up at her and she almost thought he looked tired. "Please come and get her. She's almost killed three vampires now and caused a minor explosion. I just want her gone, but Control is insisting on talking to you first."

"Control can go fuck herself." Shaw sighed and lowered her axe. "Fine, give me an address."

"That'll take too long. I can teleport us there."

"No thanks, I'll teleport myself. Just give me an address."

Hersh looked puzzled. "If you don't know what the area looks like, how will you teleport there?"

Shaw almost laughed. Vampires were so insistent on clinging to their antiquated ways that they missed out on the wonders of modern technology. No wonder Hersh had shown up in a car. "I have my ways. Address, now. And then leave."

Hersh picked himself up slowly and fished in his pocket for a pen and paper. He scrawled a few lines and handed the paper to her. "Knock on the door and say you're there to see me and they'll let you in."

"Great, now scram."

Hersh looked a little insulted, but he obligingly vanished a few seconds later.

Shaw looked at the dent in her garden wall with annoyance. Maybe she'd make Root pay to fix it. This was all her fault.

Although…. Maybe Shaw should have told her _why_ she was supposed to keep the bite marks covered.

She used every bit of her speed to pack a bag. She was planning on getting out of there as quickly as possible, but she couldn't teleport that far twice in one day without resting and feeding so she needed to pack for a day or two. She threw in her med kit, some of Root's stuff as well, and a few other odds and ends. She debated over bringing the giant axe, but finally left it behind.

Once she was ready, she pulled up the address on google maps on her laptop and switched to street view. The fact that vampires who actually used their vampiric teleporting abilities regularly hadn't figured this out yet was just sad. She found an alley entrance off the street a few blocks from her destination and studied the area carefully. A few image searches brought up more pictures of the area and she soon felt confident she had a good enough fix on the place to teleport.

The UK wasn't nearly as far to teleport to as New York had been, but it was still far from pleasant. Shaw spent ten miserable seconds cursing at Root as she recovered in her alleyway.

It was very late at night and the streets were mostly empty, but Shaw still played it safe and made her way to the address she'd been given by going over the rooftops. She dropped lightly to the ground in front of the door to a large building without many windows. Even without the strong smell of vampires, the whole place basically screamed vampire hideout right down to the big gothic door knocker in the shape of a vampire head. Sure, she had one with a demon head on her door, but she lived in an actual castle and it was part of the decor. This was just unnecessary.

She glared at the tacky thing as she knocked on the door next to it with her fist.

A metal slit was pulled back in the door and someone looked out at her through it.

"Who're you?"

"I'm here to see Hersh."

"What's your name?"

"Why should I tell some underling who got stuck with door duty?"

"No name, no entry."

Shaw rolled her eyes. She shifted her weight and kicked the door with all her strength.

There wasn't really a thing such as vampire-proof, however there were ways to make it harder for vampires to get through a door. But it was rare for the doors of a vampire hideout to have any of that extra reinforcement--too many times in history it'd been used against them for them to ever feel comfortable purposefully locking themselves in somewhere.

The door flew off its hinges and it and the vampire who'd been behind it went skidding down the hall. Shaw stalked in and past the struggling vampire on the floor. When she stepped out into the main hall (predictably designed like some sort of gothic castle. Sure the outside of her castle fit the bill, but who would actually want to live like this?) she found herself surrounded by about half a dozen more vampires, a few of whom had crossbows aimed at her.

Annoying, but at least she wasn't bored anymore. She eyed her new opponents and got ready to spring.

"Stand down." It was Hersh's voice and the vampires reluctantly followed the order.

"You couldn't have just knocked?" Hersh asked as the hall cleared out.

"Tried that. Didn't work out."

Hersh looked a little puzzled but didn't press for details. "Control will see you now."

"Well, I won't see her. Take me to Root first, or we'll see how many of your vampires you can stand to lose today."

"Root? Is that her name? We found ten different passports on her and when we asked which one was real, she said yes."

It was good to know that Root was a dick to everyone.

"But I must insist that--"

A vampire came in, moving at full speed, and paused to whisper something to Hersh that Shaw could easily hear. Hard to have secrets when everyone had super hearing. She smirked.

"I think you'd better let me handle this," she said. "She can cause you a lot of trouble."

Hersh nodded, defeated. "This way."

The building had an actual dungeon with cells. Root must have been pleased by that, Shaw figured, but probably not so pleased to get stuck in one of the cells. The one Hersh led her to had the door swung wide open and not a trace of a prisoner. That didn't matter though because Shaw could clearly smell Root now even over the scent of all the vampires.

She followed the scent to a large air vent on the wall with the cover askew. If it led to the outside it might be Root's way out, or maybe she was just looking for ways to cause more havoc.

Shaw wrenched the cover off and stuck her head in. "Root?" she called. Her voice echoed through the dark tunnel. "It's me. Get your ass back here."

There were a few long seconds of silence and then a lot of banging and clattering from inside the vent. Shaw stepped back and offered Root a hand up from the vent.

"I was about to leave," Root said as she straightened up. "I only stopped long enough to leave them a little something to remember me by." She scrunched her nose up and looked past Shaw towards Hersh. "The nice room with all the banners might be a little bit on fire."

Hersh cursed and vanished down the hall.

"You okay?" Shaw asked. She looked Root over. She still had a pair of heavy manacles around her wrists (which would have been hot in other circumstances) and the left side of her face was badly bruised. A small cut along one cheekbone was way too close to the dirt smudges on her face for Shaw's liking.

"Well, it's certainly been an adventure," Root said. "Thanks for coming to find me, sweetie."

"Here." Shaw grabbed the cuff on Root's right wrist and bent it open with a sharp jerk. She repeated the same thing for the left one and critically eyed the red marks they'd left.

"I could have opened them the same way I dealt with the door, but I figured getting out was a higher priority."

"And stopping to set a fire."

"Exactly. Also those might have made a nice souvenir before you went and destroyed them."

"I'll get you some nicer ones." Shaw rubbed at the red marks on her wrists. "You hurt anywhere else?"

"Some bruises and scrapes, but nothing to fuss over."

Shaw scowled and released her. "I'm not fussing."

Root just smiled at her.

"We're leaving," Shaw said. "Come on." She couldn't teleport them back yet, but they could at least get out of the building and maybe the city. Find a nice hotel to hole up in for the day.

"How did you know where to find me?" Root asked as she followed Shaw back towards the stairs.

"Hersh showed up at my place and told me this lot had you. Seemed to want to get rid of you really badly."

"I'm insulted."

Shaw laughed. "You should be proud. It's not just anyone who can cause this much trouble to a whole pack of vampires."

"I'm very talented. Though I'm surprised they didn't just kill me."

"Vampires don't go around killing each other's humans unless they're trying to start a war." She cast a look back at Root hoping to warn her off from this particular line of conversation. This wasn't a safe place to talk.

Hersh met them back in the main hall above, standing casually between them and the exit.

"Control still wants to talk to you."

"I don't particularly want to talk to her."

"Your human severely injured one of our own, hurt several others, and caused a large amount of property damage. We've treated her well by comparison."

"The bread they gave me was stale," Root pointed out helpfully. "Also that cell could stand to be cleaned with bleach."

Hersh looked pained. "Is avoiding a short conversation really worth the effort of a fight?"

If Shaw had been by herself she might have risked it, but she didn't like Root's chances in a fight with a whole pack of vampires who weren't inclined to keep her alive anymore.

"Fine, but I need to take care of her injuries first."

Hersh looked like he was going to argue but then shrugged. "We have a room ready for you."

That was a bit ominous, but for now it would do. "Take us there."

The room Hersh brought them to was a large bedroom that looked like it belonged in a castle in some period drama. Shaw rolled her eyes. God she hated vampires.

"The bedrooms here are all as soundproofed as we can make them, for privacy," Hersh explained. "I'll send someone to fetch you in an hour."

Once he was gone Shaw turned to Root. "We need to get you patched up first. Then we can figure out what we're going to do next."

"Is there a shower here?" Root asked, looking back towards the bathroom door at the far end of the room.

"A shower? We just need to hurry up and get done with this so we can leave."

"It'd be harder to hear talking over the water."

"Oh." It was a good point. "Guess we could both stand to clean up." She took her pack off and started rummaging in it. "I brought you a change of clothes, just in case. Where's your stuff, by the way?"

"At my hotel. I'd appreciate if we could stop to pick it up before we leave town, but it's not a big loss if we don't."

Shaw shoved some hastily folded clothes at her. "Did you finish your job here?"

"Yes, though I'm thinking about cancelling the one in France."

Shaw led the way to the bathroom (which was quite nice and modern compared to the rest of the place). "What for?"

"To give myself enough time to properly thank you for running to my rescue. Again."

Shaw turned on the water. "You seemed to have things under control." It was impressive how easily Root had managed to navigate through her world so far. These vampires were lucky they were too antiquated to have any sort of electronics or Root really would have wrecked them.

She turned to watch Root pull her shirt off over her head and frowned. There were bruises on Root's rib cage like she'd been kicked. Root saw where she was looking and shrugged.

"They weren't happy about me lighting one of their number on fire or the silver dagger thing, but they must have still held back a lot since they didn't break anything."

"They still shouldn't have hurt you. There are rules."

Root smiled. "Rules are meant to be broken, Shaw."

"Only if I'm the one breaking them."

The only other injuries Shaw could find on her were scraped knees and a bruised shin.

"Fuss later," Root said and pulled her under the hot water.

Shaw wanted to make sure the dirt near Root's open cuts and scrapes got washed away first, but Root interrupted her by grabbing her face and kissing her instead.

Shaw squirmed away. "Not now, Root. We need to talk."

Root ran her hands up and down Shaw's sides and smiled at her a little soppily. "What's on your mind, Shaw?"

"The reason the vampires tried not to hurt you, it's what I told you about a while back. They think you're my human...like a pet."

"Very unoriginal of them, but it worked in our favor didn't it?"

"Yeah, but it means we need to be careful." She smacked Root's hand away from her butt. "I'm being serious."

Root sighed and stepped back under the water spray. Shaw watched as rivulets of water ran down her body, cleaning away the last traces of dirt. Her eyes focused in on the drops running down Root's collar bones towards her breasts.

"Shaw?" Root sounded amused.

"Uh, right." She was suddenly keenly aware of exactly how long it had been since she'd last gotten laid. She tore her eyes away.

"Just don't say or do anything that might imply you don't take orders from me. If anyone asks, we'll say your trip here was an errand and you went outside the designated area to piss me off."

"Sounds like something I'd do." Root ran a finger down her own chest, between her breasts, and across her stomach. Shaw's eyes followed.

"Exactly," she said, distracted despite herself. "We just need to not cause suspicion until I can teleport us back." She stepped closer to Root without intending to. "Hopefully tomorrow some time."

"You'll need blood." Root caught her arms and tugged her closer even as she continued to back up against the wall. "Good thing I have plenty."

"I might need to take you up on that. They'd be suspicious if I didn't take yours." She let Root pull her up against her. She tried not to press into her too much since Root was all bruised up, but Root kept trying to pull her in tighter. The humid air of the shower wrapped around them and Shaw felt herself relax for the first time since she'd heard a car turning down her street.

"We should wait until after we meet with Control probably, but--"

"You shouldn't go anywhere near her."

Root chuckled. "It's cute that you think you can leave me behind."

Shaw sighed. She hadn't really thought she'd be able to make Root stay behind and she also wasn't big on the idea of leaving her alone in this place.

"So you should probably wait to really feed until after that, but, in the meantime, if you need a pick-me-up…" Root raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to one side. "Be my guest."

Shaw's eyes flicked down to her neck, tempted. The trip had exhausted her and there was only so long she could hide that. "You don't owe me anything, you know that, right?"

Root laughed. "Sweetie, do you honestly think I let you bite me all the time only for your benefit? Though I wouldn't mind if you want to sweeten the deal a little right now." She squeezed Shaw's butt to drive her point home.

"Yeah, I think I can manage that." Control could wait.

She stretched up to kiss Root finally, more gently than usual since Root's face was bruised. It had been a long day, and it wasn't over yet, but right now all that mattered was that Root was safe. Or as safe as they could get while they were still here.

"We should get out of the shower for this," she murmured against Root's lips.

"No, come here."

They slid down the wall together so Root was sitting, still pressed against the wall, and Shaw was kneeling over her legs. Root's hands cupped her face and tugged her down.

"Come on, Sameen. Bite me."

Shaw leaned in and breathed in the scent of Root's skin. She smelled familiar now, safe. Shaw nudged her neck with her nose and Root obligingly leaned her head sideways to expose more of her neck to her. There were still other, healing marks there, and Shaw took a second to find an untouched spot before she leaned in and sank her fangs into Root's neck.

The soft little gasp that drew from Root hit Shaw like a freight train, sending a spike of heat through her body and making her bite down harder. Root's blood flooded into her mouth and through her body, washing away her exhaustion. Root's fingers threaded through her hair and Shaw felt her other hand sliding up the inside of her thigh. She groaned into the bite as Root's fingers touched her, softly at first and then with more insistence.

She pulled back with a deep shuddering breath when Root's fingers slid into her. "Fuck, I thought--" Her hands tightened on Root's arms when Root crooked her fingers inside of her. "--I thought I was supposed to be getting you off."

"In a minute." Root's mouth closed around her nipple, her teeth biting down cruelly and wonderfully.

Shaw's knees shook and she leaned forwards and rested her forehead next to Root on the wet wall. Root's hand smoothed up her back as she released her nipple.

"Did you get enough blood, sweetie?"

"Yeah, I-- Fuck!" Root was unfairly good with those long fingers of hers.

"Kiss me, Shaw."

"With my mouth still tasting like your blood?"

"Exactly."

Shaw shook her head. "You're so fucking weird." But she pulled back enough to kiss Root and slip her tongue in her mouth. She rocked against Root's fingers under the warm stream of water and moaned into her mouth as she came, far faster than she'd expected. Her knees gave out and she collapsed into Root's lap.

"Thanks for coming to rescue me, baby."

"Baby?" Shaw grumbled against her shoulder, outraged. "Really, Root?" She hoped that the other vampires couldn't hear this.

Root smoothed a hand through her hair and didn't say anything, but Shaw could feel her chest shaking with quiet laughter.

"That vampire with no sense of humor will come back eventually," Root said after a long silent moment of sitting under the warm water together. "We should finish up before that unless you want him walking in on us."

"Good point." Shaw peeled herself off of Root and stood up. She switched the water off and offered Root a hand up.

They both dried off, but, when Root headed towards the bedroom door, Shaw grabbed her, spun her around, and pushed her up against the sink.

"Hands on the sink," she ordered, pressing into Root from behind so Root's hip bones were shoved roughly against the porcelain.

Shaw could hear Root's heart rate spike with excitement as she gripped the back edges of the sink obediently.

"Two steps back and bend forwards. Don't move your hands." She stepped back to give Root some room and appreciate how fucking hot it looked to watch Root bend over the sink. Sure they were on a schedule here, but she didn't think it was going to take more than a minute or two for Root to come and something about the temptation of fucking Root like this right here in a building full of potentially hostile vampires made her common sense go out the goddamn door.

"Spread your legs. Wider." Shaw looked over her awkward position with satisfaction. "Your arms and elbows don't get to touch the sink." It left Root in an uncomfortable position where she had to strain to hold her arms off the porcelain of the sink while trying to maintain her balance. If they'd had more time, Shaw might have spanked her and seen if she could hold the position throughout, but maybe they could try again some other time.

"This bothering any of your injuries?" she asked before she went any further.

"I'm fine, Shaw. Will you just--"

Shaw cut off her impatient request with a hard slap across her right butt cheek. Root rocked forwards and her arms shook and tensed as she tried not to let her elbows fall. Shaw nodded with satisfaction and stepped up behind her.

Root was swollen and wet beneath Shaw's exploring fingers. Her breath stuttered out when Shaw applied gentle pressure to her clit, and her arms strained hard against the sink. Shaw pressed herself firmly against Root's back and toyed idly with one of her nipples with the hand she didn't have between Root's legs.

"You know, it'd serve you right if I got you all worked up and then didn't let you get off before our meeting with Control," Shaw said.

Root moaned at the idea and Shaw thought she could feel her get just a little wetter.

"What'd...what'd I do?" Root asked in a choked voice. Her knuckles were white against the sink.

"Got yourself kidnapped by the dumbest vampires ever."

"I don't think that was entirely my fault," Root protested without much force.

She probably had a point and it was definitely not the time to discuss that yet, so Shaw cut the conversation short by pushing into Root with two fingers. Root was so damned wet and open that Shaw's fingers slid in easily. She added a third and rubbed insistently at a spot that made Root's whole body shake against hers.

"How's that feel?" Shaw asked as she curled her fingers inside her. Root was hot and slick around her fingers and the way she kept clamping down made Shaw's breath catch.

"Really good, Sameen."

Shaw pulled out a little and added a fourth finger and slid back in agonizingly slowly. Root cried out and her knees almost buckled at the sensation and fuck Shaw was having a situation of her own over how tight Root was around her fingers. She slid her other hand down between Root's legs as well and coated her index finger in Root's wetness.

Root wasn't going to last much longer, she could tell, but before she got off…. Shaw moved back a tiny bit without dislodging the fingers she had buried deep inside Root. With her other hand she traced over Root's ass and dipped a finger between her cheeks. Root's hips jerked under her and she let out a high-pitched whine.

"Do it, Shaw," she demanded, voice strained and rough.

Shaw pushed in only the tiniest bit with the tip of her index finger and Root shattered underneath her. Her elbows slammed into the sink and her whole body tensed and shook and Shaw quickly withdrew her finger to get an arm around her to keep her from collapsing on the sink. She waited until Root's body had relaxed before gently sliding the rest of her fingers out. Root whimpered in protest and her knees went out and Shaw ended up catching her full weight and easing her down to the floor so Root sat cradled in her lap.

"I should get myself kidnapped more often," Root murmured into her shoulder.

"Don't even think about it." She looked down at the sweaty mess of Root in her lap. "Maybe we should get back in the shower for a second."

They quickly washed off again and then there was a brief tug-o-war over the last dry towel (Shaw graciously allowed Root to win since she was injured). When they finally made it back out into the bedroom, Root fell back onto the bed and tried to drag Shaw after her. It would have been the easiest thing ever for Shaw to have resisted, but instead, she left herself be pulled into a mess of entangled limbs on top of the covers. Root was warm and soft under her, and her hands played lightly with Shaw's hair.

Some part of Shaw was aware that this was everything she'd avoided her whole existence, both alive and undead. She'd never wanted any sort of connection with another person, and the idea of drinking blood from a human, from one specific human, in a building surrounded by other vampires and their archaic beliefs about ownership had always seemed abhorrent to her. And yet, this weird path they'd followed to get here made this moment very different from the horrible idea of it in her mind.

"Shaw, you're thinking too much." Root's arms snaked around her. "You can have an existential crisis after you get me off."

"Again?" Shaw asked incredulously. It was tempting, but…. "First I'm going to take a look at these injuries and then we'll see what we have time for." She suspected the other vampires in the building must have had some idea what they had gotten up to, but she wasn't sure that would stop Control from sending someone in to fetch them. "Now let me up."


	2. Chapter 2

Root winced and almost kicked Shaw when Shaw dabbed at her scraped knee with an antibiotic wipe.

"Hold still."

It was very cute how Shaw was fussing over a bunch of bumps and bruises and Root smiled down at the top of her head.

"While you're down there…." Sure she'd just come a little while ago, but that didn't mean she couldn't go for seconds.

Shaw glanced up from where she was kneeling on the floor next to the bed. "Maybe later." She straightened up and reached for her med kit on the bed. "You know, if you had just worn that scarf like I told you--"

"Maybe you should have told me why it was important." Which still might not have stopped her, but at least she would have known the risk.

Shaw scowled but didn't argue the point. She uncapped some tube of cream that smelled terrible and started dabbing at the bruised side of Root's face.

"I didn't think it would ever be a real issue," Shaw said after a few seconds of painful poking. "Looks like I was wrong."

Root knew that passed for an apology in Shaw language. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Nothing I can think of at the moment." Shaw stopped her poking and stood back to examine her. "When we get back to my place, I'll fill you in on...all of it, I guess."

Root rubbed her bruised jaw. Her whole face felt stiff. "I'd like that."

Shaw nodded. "Want me to wrap your ribs?"

Root's ribcage was definitely a little tender, but she was pretty sure nothing had been broken and if it could hold up okay while Shaw fucked her over the sink then it probably wasn't serious. "I think it'll be okay."

"Then let's get dressed and finish this bullshit."

They were both fully dressed when the big, dull vampire Shaw had called Hersh finally came back.

"We gave you some extra time," he said. "Thought you might need it." He was trying very hard not to make eye contact with either of them. So much for the soundproofing.

Shaw didn't bat an eye. "Well, we're ready now, so let's get this over with."

"You're bringing her along?"

"You got a problem with that?"

Hersh looked back and forth between them and then shook his head. "I guess I don't."

Hersh led them through the building and up another level of stairs. Root hadn't been up here before, exactly, though she had briefly popped her head out long enough to set some wall hangings on fire. She could still smell the faint traces of smoke in the air. A shame she hadn't had any accelerant.

The room Hersh let them into looked like a cross between a throne room and an office. There was a large stone table up on the dais and a formidable looking woman sat in the stone chair behind it writing in a ledger. This must be Control. Root hated her already.

Though there was something so stiff and serious about her that she couldn't help but think how _fun_ it would be to mess with her.

There were a couple chairs in front of the dais, and Hersh gestured for them to sit. Control didn't even glance up. Shaw sprawled into one of the chairs and pulled another over close enough that she could prop her feet up on it. Root took a seat next to her and looked around the room. No other vampires in here as far as she could tell, though there were lots of dark shadowy corners that they'd probably spent a lot of time getting to look properly ominous. She hadn't seen another human since she'd arrived. Maybe they kept their 'pet' humans hidden away.

"Ah, Shaw." Control finally looked up from the book she'd be scribbling in. "So good of you to finally join us. And I see you've brought your poorly trained human along."

Shaw stared insolently at her. "You're the one who wanted to see us. Just say the word and we'll leave."

"I wanted to see you, not her."

"Tough."

Control's eye twitched ever so slightly. "Fine. I'll get right down to business then. I have some work I could use someone with your skills to help with. In fact, both your skills and hers. I looked into the rumors about a mysterious person called Root and apparently she's quite good with computers and the like."

Root almost laughed. "Did you want me to install some antivirus software on your abacus?"

Control glared at her. "Shaw, control your human."

"Yeah, I don't think so. And I'm not interested in whatever job you have to offer. I'm doing just fine without you idiots and your weird political vampire drama."

"You've been living in isolation for over twenty years. Are you telling me you're enjoying that?"

Root glanced sideways at Shaw, remembering what they'd talked about back before she'd left on this trip. Maybe this would be just what Shaw was after.

"Half the reason I was there was to get away from you lot. Why would I ever want to go back to that?"

Or maybe not.

"We can make things very uncomfortable for you. And your human."

Shaw raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that be against your precious vampire rules?"

Control smiled. "Don't test me on this, Shaw."

"How exactly are you going to make things uncomfortable for us?" Root asked, letting disdain drip from her words. "Shaw can wipe the floor with any of the vampires I've seen here and trust me when I say that I can actually make your lives _very_ unpleasant." She smiled. "It'd be a shame if you all got evicted from your fancy house, but all it would take is a few keystrokes. And I hope none of you has money in a bank."

Control's eyes narrowed. "Shaw…"

Shaw just shrugged. "I'd believe her if I were you. She made the property taxes on my place vanish."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No, you tried to threaten us and failed."

Root could see Control's eye twitching.

"I tell you what," Shaw said, "you have something you want either of us to help out with, you send Hersh by my place to propose it and we'll think about it. But I don't work for you anymore and I have no interest in taking orders again. And if any of your little minions comes anywhere near either of us, we'll do a hell of a lot more damage than we just did."

"You're making a huge mistake--"

"I don't think we are." Shaw stood up. "Now we're going to leave and teleport back tomorrow evening and if any of your people tries to stop us--" She shrugged. "--I'll let Root frame you for something horrible that'll have the military down here poking around in your business."

Root got up as well and gave Control a toothy smile when she looked at her. Even if Control let them walk out of here, she still planned to do something unpleasant to her. Maybe freeze her credit cards at the very least (if she even _had_ credit cards).

Hersh was waiting for them in the hall, looking grim. "You know she won't let this drop that easily."

"That's her problem," Shaw said. "And we're leaving now."

"Wait." Hersh held up a hand to stop them. "You're welcome to stay here for the day. Use the room we gave you. I took the liberty of having Ms Root's bags brought over from her hotel."

"This feels like a trap," Shaw said, squinting at him suspiciously. "Why let us stay?"

"Because Control very much would like your help in the future and she'll remember that once she calms down. This place is secure and has no windows and you have my word you'll be safe here."

Shaw glanced at Root. "The no windows part is a bonus, but I'm fine either way. Your call."

"You trust him?" Root asked, surprised.

"Not on a lot of things, but on this, yeah."

Hersh didn't seem to look particularly offended by this.

"Staying in a creepy, old-fashioned building full of vampires? Sounds fun." Also she was really tired and sore and just wanted to crawl in bed with Shaw as soon as possible.

Hersh was looking back and forth between them as if he'd figured something out. "I think I'm beginning to see where Control made her first mistake."

"Hersh." Shaw's tone was threatening.

"I'll have someone bring some food by your room," Hersh said and then hurried away.

Root watched the way Shaw bristled as she glared after him, like an angry cat.

"Let's go to bed, Shaw." She placed her hand on Shaw's back and tried to steer her away.

Shaw glared down the hall for another few seconds and then let Root lead her back to the room they'd been in earlier. Like Hersh had promised, Root's bags were waiting for them and she quickly looked through them to make sure everything was intact.

"I'm going to need to feed more, either now or when we wake up," Shaw said. "I can try and sneak out and find a donor, but--"

"Splitting up sounds like a bad idea, and also, I'd much rather you feed on me."

Shaw nodded as if she'd expected that. "Then you'd better eat whatever it is they bring so you're ready."

The food was surprisingly good for a place where most of the inhabitants didn't need to eat, and Root wondered how many humans there were here, hidden away. How did that whole relationship even work anyway? She'd have to ask Shaw later.

After she finished eating, she got changed and joined Shaw on the bed.

"Sure you don't want to sleep first?" Shaw asked as Root crawled up to sit between her legs.

"The sooner you're back to full strength, the sooner we can get out of here." The whole trip had worn her out more than she liked.

"Come here then."

They always sat the same way when Shaw needed to feed off of her: Shaw propped up against the headboard of a bed, and Root tucked in between her legs so she could lie back into Shaw's body. Shaw felt solid up against her back--strong but still soft--and Root relaxed into her with a happy sigh.

Shaw had called feeding a boring process, and maybe it was for her, but Root loved it, loved the feeling of closeness to Shaw it always brought her. She'd never told Shaw that part since she wasn't sure how she'd feel about it, but she was loathe to give up any opportunity to share this with her.

Shaw's arms circled around her more loosely than usual, no doubt being sensitive to her bruised ribs, but her fangs still bit deeply before she latched on and sucked hard at Root's neck.

"I was thinking, Sameen," Root said, once she was sure Shaw was too busy to respond. "About Control's offer."

Shaw grumbled unintelligibly into her neck.

"Don't talk with your mouth full. Just listen. I have my own life and my own work, but if Control has some jobs that I might be suited to help with, I wouldn't necessarily mind taking them as well, as long as she paid enough. I'm not your pet, but I'm not against being your partner. Business partner, I mean."

Shaw grunted in a noncommittal way.

"Think it over. I'll stay out of it if you want me to, but I wouldn't mind being involved. If you want me to."

She fell silent after that and let Shaw finish feeding in peace. She wondered if the other vampires could tell Shaw was feeding now, or if they'd heard them earlier. She'd have been lying if she said she didn't find the idea of them listening in to Shaw fucking her and feeding from her to be extremely hot, but she wasn't sure Shaw shared her little exhibitionist flair. Maybe that could be a fun thing to explore another day.

Shaw finally released her and sank back against the headboard. Root slid down a little so she could lie back on Shaw and rest her head on her chest, and, for a wonder, Shaw let her.

"How're you feeling?" Shaw asked a few minutes later.

"Tired, mostly. Sore. I think I need another vacation."

"Most of what we did on your last vacation left you tired and sore, too."

"True, but under much better circumstances."

Shaw's arms wrapped around her again, loose but firm. "Do you...is there a place you have somewhere where you stay regularly? Like a house or something?"

Root shook her head against Shaw's chest. "No, no house. I've never settled down anywhere. Not much point."

"Oh." Shaw fell quiet but Root could almost hear the gears in her mind turning. "If you have stuff you need to leave somewhere or whatever, you can leave it at my place. It wouldn't be a problem."

Root already had a couple necessities and a few changes of clothing in her room at Shaw's castle, but she got that this wasn't what the offer was about.

"I think I'd like that a lot," she said.

* * *

"Hold still," Root scolded as she settled over Shaw's hips.

Shaw pulled against the handcuffs just enough to make the headboard creak. They both knew it would take her almost no effort to destroy both the bed and the cuffs, so now the game was Root trying to make her lose control and Shaw trying to avoid having to replace another bed.

Root had only taken her shirt off and was sitting over Shaw's hips in her bra and jeans. The bruises on her face and ribs had all faded into yellow-brown blotches as she healed and soon no physical traces of her little adventure would remain.

The last week and a half back had been odd. Root had already been staying in Shaw's room most of the time, ever since that terrible New York trip, but the sharing felt different to Shaw now. Root still had her room, and Shaw's room was still Shaw's room except that sometimes it was _their_ room instead. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it was new and kind of made Shaw want to vanish into the mountains when she started thinking about it too much.

And it wasn't like Root didn't still have her own room when she needed it, or when, like right now, they needed it to use in case they broke another headboard. Shaw relaxed into the blankets and remembered Root's first night here when they'd destroyed this bed and Root's only pair of handcuffs. That had been fun.

Now here she was cuffed to the same bed (in spirit anyway), but tonight Root had something a little different in mind.

"How the fuck did you find out about the silver thing?" Shaw asked yet again.

Root looked smug but didn't answer.

The thing with silver and vampires was that it burned like fuck when something with a high silver content got pressed into a vampire's skin, a fact that Shaw hadn't shared with Root but that she seemed to have ferreted out on her own. Silver also left damage that took a lot longer to heal than any other type of wound might. All this explained _why_ Root had used a silver dagger to stab one of Control's vampires, but not _how_ she'd known to. Or what exactly she'd intended to do with the dagger when she'd acquired it.

"It was partly in case I ran into another vampire," Root had admitted when Shaw pressed her on that point. "But also I was thinking it might be kind of fun in the right circumstances?"

They'd talked about it a few times, and Shaw had let Root try out a dull silver knife on her once, just to get a feel for how quickly it burned her. Silver could leave permanent scars on a vampire, but it took a hell of a lot of damage and she trusted Root enough to let her try this out now.

"Let's get started," Root said cheerfully, as if her face wasn't still smeared with wetness from eating Shaw out. Apparently that had just been the warm up.

Root fished around in the pocket of her jeans and palmed whatever it was she took out before Shaw could see it. "I got a surprise specially made just for you." Root sounded way too cheerful and Shaw stared at her closed palm warily.

"Will you just get on with-- Fuck!"

Root slapped something burning hot down right under Shaw's collar bone. Shaw hissed and twitched under the pain which seemed to go on and on until she relaxed and let it roll through her, spiraling down into a sort of dull white throb of agony.

Root pulled whatever it was away and examined her work. "How'd that feel, sweetie?"

"Hurt like fuck." Shaw rolled her shoulder so her burnt skin pulled. Fuck, but that was nice. "What the hell did you use?"

She raised her head to get a look at the raw, red burn mark on her chest and her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Root. What the fuck."

Root grinned impishly. "It seemed appropriate." She ran her finger over Shaw's skin just close enough to the burn for it to sting.

Shaw looked down at the two inch long burn in the shape of a bat logo that had been branded on her chest and then back up at Root and the little bat-shaped piece of metal she was holding. "I'm going to kill you."

Root nodded very seriously. "Of course you are, sweetie, but first…." She pressed the metal down into Shaw's stomach, right above her belly button.

"Fuck!" It burned so much and yet somewhere in there it also felt really damn good. Her whole body felt like it was revolving around that single point of pain.

Root removed the metal again and slid down to sit between Shaw's legs and start fingering her roughly, metal charm held hidden in the palm of her other hand. Shaw grit her teeth at the warring sensations of Root's fingers sending little sparks of pleasure through her and the angry burns throbbing. It all felt extremely good and yet here she was with some dumbass nerdy bat logo branded into her skin for probably the next week. Root was going to pay for this.

"Too much? Not enough?" Root asked as she slid a finger into Shaw. She held the metal up in her other hand, hovering over Shaw's hip bone.

"I'm going to shove that fucking bat up your ass." She could have snapped the cuffs and taken it away from Root, but, as much as she hated to admit it, everything else about this was really, really good and she had a feeling Root would call it off if she made her switch to something else. What an asshole.

"Hmm, I'm not sure I'd enjoy that nearly as much as you're enjoying this." Root stayed hovering with an eyebrow raised, waiting for Shaw's answer.

"Yeah, it's fine. You can leave it on for maybe a second longer this time."

The silver bat seared into her hip bone right as Root slid a second finger into her and she lost herself in the wave of white-hot pain and pleasure. She wasn't even aware that she'd come until a few seconds later when she finally blinked away the fading remnants of the thick webs of pain and ecstasy that had rolled through her. Root beamed down at her looking very pleased with herself.

"You know I figured you'd like a little pain back when we first met," Root said in a way that made Shaw brace herself for what came next. "I guess you could say I knew right off the...bat."

Shaw flexed her arms and the headboard exploded in a shower of splinters. Her hand wrapped around Root's throat as she glared at her. But...her hand was loose and Root hadn't budged an inch and was just looking down at her with laughter in her eyes, like she knew exactly how idle the threat was. Shaw scowled and released her.

"You're very scary and ferocious, sweetie," Root assured her, patting her head patronizingly. "I promise you the bat burns just make you look scarier."

"Fuck you."

"You're welcome to as soon as I patch you up." Root leaned over to grab some supplies from the nightstand. "And maybe we should move to your room since someone broke the bed again."

"You know that stuff doesn't actually do anything for me," Shaw said as she let Root rub ointment into the burns after they'd moved to her room. "I can't get infections and nothing will make them heal any faster than they already would."

"I know, but you always fuss over me so it's only fair."

Shaw rolled her eyes but submitted herself to Root cleaning the burns and taping gauze over them in an ineffectual way. When Root wandered off to take a shower, Shaw bandaged them better just to keep them from rubbing against anything. She went and raided the sex toy drawer after. Her turn now.

When Root rejoined her, naked and towelling her hair dry, Shaw already had a strap-on harness on and ready to go. She'd put up with all Root's nonsense (admittedly very enjoyable nonsense), but now she was ready to fuck Root until she blacked out. She had plans. So many plans.

"Wanna fuck me in the ass, sweetie?" Root asked casually.

Shaw took it as a sign of her god-like self-control that she only squeezed the lube bottle flat rather than crushing it into a pulp. Lube went everywhere: all over her, the floor, the dildo, the gauze bandages.

"I'll take that as a yes," Root said smugly. She tossed her towel to Shaw.

Shaw swallowed and very carefully used the towel to clean up all the mess before answering.

"Were you serious or was that just to mess with me?" It wasn't like they hadn't done it before, but Shaw definitely hadn't been expecting the night to go this way.

"I'm always serious, Shaw." Root smiled at her. "Not that one, though." She nodded at the dildo.

"Right." Shaw went to fetch the one Root liked to get fucked in the ass with and switched them out. She rolled a condom onto it and turned to find Root watching her with hungry eyes. Her skin was still flushed red from the hot shower and that gave Shaw an idea.

"Bend over, hands on the bed," she said.

Root thankfully seemed to be done causing mischief for the night and went quietly (though still smirking). Shaw took a moment to drink her in, her lithe form covered in a scattering of bite marks here and there, bent over and waiting for her.

"Okay if I spank the hell out of you first?" she asked.

A shiver ran through Root's body. "Yes, please."

The grunts and whimpers that Root made when Shaw's palm smacked her hard enough to make her rock forward were some of Shaw's very favorite sounds. Root's arms shook where she held up her weight and her whole body tensed with each slap.

"You let people do this regularly before me?" Shaw asked, suddenly curious. Root definitely enjoyed the fuck out of it, but Shaw had a hard time picturing her letting some stranger spank her. Of course she'd been a stranger, too, the first time.

"Not usually, no." Root panted out between impacts. Shaw eased up to let her finish. "I like all the things we do, but I didn't get to do them that often before. Not on this side of the equation anyway." She looked back at Shaw. "Trust issues, you know."

"You let me do all kinds of stuff to you the first night we met."

"I did," Root agreed. She pushed her ass back towards Shaw, a clear sign that the conversation was over.

Shaw shrugged and resumed. She took her time and spanked Root until her ass was bright red and she was crying out on each strike. Shaw could smell just how turned on she was and okay yeah she was done with this part and ready to move onto the next. She grabbed a glove from the toy drawer, slipped it on, and coated her first two fingers with lube.

Root whimpered a little when Shaw's fingers explored between her red ass cheeks. Shaw took her time, rubbing gently, warming Root up to the sensations before she slowly slid in with a single finger.

Root's breath hissed out and her fingers tightened on the sheets. Shaw watched her own finger push in, entranced by how Root's whole body shivered. Root was so incredibly tight and hot around her finger that she wanted to pause and just savor the moment. She started moving inside her cautiously, going slow and giving her a chance to adjust.

After a few minutes, she pulled out and then pushed back in with two fingers, stretching Root out around them.

"Fuck, Shaw," Root whined, her fingers gripping the sheets of the bed. Shaw ran her hand up Root's spine, soothing her and urging her to relax into the slow strokes of Shaw's fingers in her ass. She reached around and rubbed circles around Root's clit, lightly enough so that it would feel good without really getting her anywhere.

Root relaxed into her fingers and pushed back with her hips to meet Shaw's thrusts and Shaw felt her mouth go dry as she watched her fingers being swallowed by Root's body. Fuck but that was hot.

"Go for a third?" she asked distantly.

"Yeaaah," Root sounded strung out, but blissful.

Shaw slicked three fingers with lube and then eased them all in. She pumped them in and out of Root a few times, and watched Root's fingers clench in the sheets in time with her movements.

"How's that feel?"

"So much." Root's voice was breathy and desperate. Her head was bent forwards and her shoulder blades stuck up in sharp relief from her back. "So full."

"Too much?"

Root shook her head back and forth. "Keep going."

"Gonna pick things up a little," Shaw warned.

She started fucking Root with her fingers in earnest, making her writhe. Root stayed mostly silent, her breath coming out in harsh pants, but her hips were pushing back into Shaw's thrusts eagerly.

"You ready to switch it up?" Shaw asked, slowing down a little.

"Yeah, but I'm going to lie down." Root's voice was thick and scratchy.

"Works for me," Shaw said, pulling out a little regretfully. "Get on the bed."

Root crawled onto the bed and sprawled on her stomach. She looked back over her shoulder at Shaw with a half-smile.

"What're you waiting for, sweetie?"

Shaw blinked in surprise, realizing she'd been standing there staring at Root. She didn't do that sort of shit usually, staring at people when she could be fucking them. She cleared her throat.

"You want me to cuff you or anything?" Root liked that sometimes, especially when they were doing more intense things.

Root took a second to consider. "That sounds nice."

The cuffs were padded leather and the chain between them long enough that it wouldn't restrain her arms a lot but she'd be able to pull on them as much as she wanted which was the point.

"Lift," Shaw said with a hand on Root's hips. She helped Root raise herself up enough to get a pillow or two under her. Root didn't protest when Shaw moved her legs--getting her in the best position--but Shaw could see the tension thrumming through her body and smell the abundance of sticky wetness between her legs. She positioned herself behind her. The dildo, slimmer than the first one she'd chosen, got slicked with lube and Shaw stroked a hand over Root's back in warning, willing her to relax.

"Get ready."

She pushed in slowly, even slower than she had with her fingers. Root's hands tugged at the handcuff chain and her breath came out in a whine. Shaw watched in fascination as the dildo slid into her, right between her bright red butt cheeks.

"You good?" she asked once she was fully inside her. She pulled out just a little and Root moaned.

"Y...yeah." Root propped herself up on her forearms and pushed back into her and holy fuck Shaw thought she could come just from watching that.

She started rocking her hips into Root, alternating between looking down to watch as she thrust into her and looking up to see Root's eyes shut and her head thrown back. She picked up the pace, and squirmed a hand under Root to touch her clit again. God she really hoped that Root was enjoying this as much as she was because this was the best thing she'd done all week. At least all week.

Root caught her rhythm and pushed back as Shaw thrust forwards, high-pitched moans ripping from her throat at each stroke. It was one of the fucking hottest thing Shaw had ever seen and she felt her own body starting to clench and her hips start to move more erratically. She sped up, drawing the length of the dildo out of Root's ass before driving it back in. Her fingers tightened and twitched against Root's sides as her hips lost their rhythm.

She hadn't intended to come before Root, but she did, holding herself up with one arm and trying to keep moving even a little as she rode out the seemingly endless waves.

"Fuck, Shaw, bite me. Please!"

The plea pulled a second, smaller orgasm from Shaw even as her first receded.

"Fucking hell," she murmured. She grit her teeth and started thrusting into Root again.

There wasn't a great angle to bite Root in the back in this position so Shaw did the only thing she could think of and sank deeper into Root as she draped herself over her back so she could reach her neck. It wasn't perfect, and Shaw's hips made shallow thrusts into Root as she pulled her close. She ran her lips down the side of Root's neck and then bit into her as she pushed with her hips. Root let out a guttural cry as she came and it vibrated into Shaw through her grip on Root's neck.

Root tensed and shook and writhed, her hips pushing back into Shaw as she rode out her orgasm. Shaw held her carefully until she slumped forwards, all the tension seeping out of her.

"I'm pulling out now," she warned. Root nodded faintly, too gone to move much, though she did whimper a bit as Shaw slid out.

The strap-on got discarded to the side and the cuffs undone and then Shaw did a brief examination to make sure Root was okay.

"Shaw?" There was a request in Root's voice and Shaw was already lying down next to her and letting Root cuddle up against her. She knew from experience now what Root wanted and leaned in to kiss her, slow and messy. Root made happy little noises into the kiss and her hands stroked up and down Shaw's back.

This wasn't quite the same as when they'd really gone all out or Shaw had zapped her with her vampire bite, but she got that Root needed this sometimes and it had become a lot easier to provide her with this softer type of physical intimacy once she'd understood that Root didn't expect other things from her--things that she couldn't have offered. She wondered if Root knew how hard it had gotten for her to deny her anything. Hopefully not or she was majorly screwed.

"You good?" she asked as Root nuzzled up against her neck. She brushed Root's hair back off her face and drank in her lazy smile. Root looked so happy and peaceful right now and that was all because of her, she realized.

"Mmm, yeah, that was nice."

"Do me a favor in return and get rid of that fucking bat."

Root laughed, a little giggly for her but Shaw figured she was slap-happy from her orgasm still.

"I'll think about it," Root murmured into her neck.

* * *

The tower of Shaw's castle had undergone a dramatic transformation since Root had started staying in the castle more...officially. Shaw's addition of a nicer chair and rug had been rejected in favor of Root lining the floor with hideously colored shag rugs and replacing the expensive antique armchair with two bean bag chairs (Shaw suspected one was supposed to be for her, but she would rather die again than sit on it). The worst part was that Root had somehow suckered her into carrying all that shit up the stairs for her, making Shaw partly culpable for her decorating crimes.

The ledge that ran around the room under the windows had various different color lava lamps on it, which cast the entire room in a truly horrifying mess of bright clashing colors. Shaw wondered what the villagers down below thought of the glowing colors up in the tower of the vampire castle. Maybe they thought it was haunted by a really tacky ghost.

(She also wondered if they'd ever seen her and Root fucking up against the tower windows (and sometimes the other windows as well), something which seemed to happen with some regularity. She wasn't quite as into it as Root was, but she couldn't deny there was something kind of hot about the idea of an entire town watching her and Root fuck.)

When Root wasn't around, Shaw avoided the tower like the plague, and even when Root was there, Shaw tried to stay away from it. Today, though, she had somehow let herself be bribed into coming up to keep Root company while she worked on some hacker thing on her laptop.

Since she refused to sit on a bean bag, she'd ended up squashed between the two bean bag chairs on the rug, trying to read her book in peace (which was basically impossible given the lighting situation). It was an overcast day so it was relatively safe for her up here, unfortunately. She was ready to retreat below at the first sneeze.

Root was very focused on whatever it was she was doing, but every so often she reached a hand out and idly petted whatever part of Shaw happened to be closest. Shaw tolerated it because the bribe had been very, very good (she was still sore) and she was doing a lousy job trying to read anyway.

She watched Root working when she was sure she wouldn't notice. Root's face had that little scrunch to it that she got when she was very intent on something, and she absently tucked locks of her hair back behind her ear from time to time. It was her good ear that was closer to Shaw--Shaw was very careful to sit on her left--since so far she'd rejected any attempt Shaw had made to start a conversation about possible ways to deal with her hearing loss. Shaw hadn't even had to think about sitting on her left, partly because of the layout of the room, but also partly because it was becoming second nature. Another part of the routines and habits that now dominated the parts of her life that Root shared.

She wondered what she'd be doing today if Root had never shown up on her doorstep eight months ago. Definitely not pretending to read while thinking up elaborate sex scenarios for the evening. And not waiting for a call from a contractor to schedule an appointment to turn a corner of her very nice, modern basement into a medieval prison cell for sexy role-playing purposes. She'd have been alone and bored and probably not even aware of how bored she was.

Thinking back to that, she wasn't sure how she'd put up with that for as long as she had. The idea of going back to endless days of nothing seemed intolerable now. Even when Root was gone on longer trips she'd start getting antsy.

Soon she'd have to find something outside her castle to do. Maybe for Control, but probably not. Maybe with Root, but who knew what. Maybe she could watch Root's back for her, make sure she didn't get herself kidnapped or tortured again. Or worse.

Shaw frowned at her book and then glanced sideways at Root. There was a conversation she kept putting off, one that they needed to have eventually. She'd hoped Root would be the one to bring it up, but she also could guess why she hadn't. It was on her to get this particular discussion started.

"Hey, Root."

Root blinked a few times and looked up, like she'd been deep in some trance. "What's up, sweetie?"

"If, theoretically, I could never use my vampire bite thing on you again, you know the one that makes you come so hard you pass out, how terrible would that be?"

Root looked at her strangely and okay Shaw could see how it might be a really weird question out of nowhere.

"That would be extremely tragic, but it's not like you've never made me black out without it." She smiled as if reliving some nice memories. "Why? Did you run out or something?"

"What? No, I can't run out. It doesn't work like that. I meant…." Shaw struggled to find a way to ask without asking. "What if you had to give things up, things you like, in order to get other things that might be different but maybe last longer."

Root burst out laughing and Shaw sulked.

"Sameen, are you asking me if I want to be a vampire?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Shaw mumbled, talking more to the hideous shag rug on the floor than Root. "I mean, not right this second or anything, but like in general."

"I think…" Root paused and Shaw turned to see her looking thoughtfully out the window. "I think it's an interesting idea, and one I've thought about a bit, and I'm not necessarily opposed to it at some point."

"Okay." She wasn't sure where to go from there.

"I tell you what, I'll bring it up next time so you don't have to play word charades trying to ask me a simple question." It was said with affection, but Shaw still scowled.

She almost let it drop then, but there was one more thing she needed to know before they moved on.

"In New York, when I found you in the hotel, I was thinking that if you'd been worse, if you'd been going to die, I could have turned you to save your life. With your permission, I mean."

Root didn't say anything, but Shaw had noticed she wasn't crazy about discussing what had happened in New York.

"If something like that happened again and you couldn't regain consciousness…."

"Are you asking me to make a living will granting you permission to turn me?" Root asked, sounding amused again.

"I'm asking if you'd want me to."

"I think that would be fine, yes."

Shaw was a little surprised at how fast she'd answered and Root must have noticed because she added, "If I'm going to die anyway, it's not like I'd be losing anything, and if I really wanted to die after all, it's not like vampires can't be killed."

"That's true." She picked up her book again, satisfied with Root's answers for now.

"I'd imagine it would add some more options to our sex life as well," Root said after a minute. "Seeing as I'd be significantly stronger and faster."

"Oh, it _definitely_ would." Shaw had fucked other vampires a few times and it had been a good time, but never one whose proclivities matched hers as well as Root's did. She always had to hold back to make sure she didn't hurt Root, but if Root was a vampire….

They'd probably destroy the castle.

"Well, that's certainly something to keep in mind then." Root reached out without looking up from her laptop like she was going to pat Shaw again, but Shaw intercepted her hand, holding her firmly by the wrist.

Root looked up. "I need that, you know."

"Should have thought of that before you tried to molest me." Shaw slid her grip up just high enough to clear Root's wrist and pulled it to her mouth so she could suck a mark on it, teasing with just a hint of fangs. Root's breath hitched and Shaw felt her heart rate spike.

Shaw surged up from the floor and knocked Root's laptop to one side as she climbed on top of her on the ridiculous bean bag chair.

"My laptop," Root protested weakly before Shaw kissed her thoroughly enough to end all discussions of silly electronics.

"Gonna fuck you so hard you come all over this stupid thing," Shaw promised as she fumbled for Root's belt. Maybe if things got exciting enough she could find a way to 'accidentally' break some of the dumb lamps as well.

"You're buying me a new one if it gets ruined," Root warned even as she lifted her hips to help Shaw pull her pants off.

"Deal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might write another part? Dunno. We shall see.


End file.
